My first assignment with Fooditude, in Dec.2011 was to interview Chef Sarah Stegner owner of Prarie Grass Café. It was an honor to meet her and have a nutritious and yummy meal in her restaurant.   

Sarah started a project, called “Healthy Fare For Kids” in Lincoln Park, Chicago to get restaurants to serve healthier food choices in kids’ menu. So far 15 local restaurants are a part of this project. Sarah believes this project will get attention nationwide to spread the fight against childhood obesity.  One of Sarah’s healthy eating tips is to drink water or milk and avoid getting full on bread before eating your nutritious meals.

Eating natural and nutritious foods like fruits and vegetables protects your health. One of three kids in America are overweight. Being overweight makes your body work harder to do anything, like walking up and down stairs, running, playing etc. etc. The body will brake down from the hard work it has to do and end up with bad sicknesses like diabetes, joint pain, headaches, asthma, heart attacks, cancer.  These sicknesses will keep you unhealthy, addicted to medications and in the doctors office the rest of your life. Poor nutrition, salty, sugary, and fatty foods creates all these sicknesses.

If you or someone you know has diabetes here are 10 recommended SUPERFOODS to keep sugar in your blood under control…

1. Beans & lentils
2. Dark green leafy vegetables
3. Citrus fruit
4. Sweet potatoes
5. Berries
6. Tomatoes
7. Salmon and fish high in omega-3 acids
8. Whole grains
9. Nuts and seeds
10. Fat-free milk and yogurt

As kids we need to start learning about the SUPERFOODS that keeps us healthy and avoid getting horrible diseases that keeps you unhealthy forever.

 (The Doctors and the Dr.Oz show are good programs to watch because it teaches use how to take care of our health).

On a rainy winter night, I went to a very fancy restaurant called Vie. It is pronounce like the letter “V” and my dad says the word "vie" means "life" in French. Before the food was served, I got a chance to meet Chef Nathan and took a quick look inside the kitchen. The kitchen had a lot of people very busy cooking meals and there was a huge pile of shrimp there ready to be cooked.  When we got the appetizer, and I ate it much too fast that I burnt my tongue, but I loved it. The appetizer was called foie gras pronounced foy grah.  It means fatty liver from a duck or goose, but I still think it tasted good.  I had the Vie salad that used locally grown veggies which tasted so fresh. The entrée was really good too. It was a delicious hamburger with cheese, lettuce, onions, and yummy BACON!! The hamburger was so good and also too colossal for my small mouth and my stomach, that I didn’t save any room for desert. It was fun having a great meal at a fancy restaurant.

At Café Ba Ba Reeba, a kid like me would find the food tasty and healthy.  They let me try just about everything on the children’s menu and I tried some things from the adult menu too. I liked the free carrots and hummus – that comes with every kids meal. I was a bit nervous about meeting the chef, because sometimes everyone gets a little nervous when meeting someone new. It felt good to talk to Chef Tim. He asked me questions about the food and I asked him questions about the food. One of my favorites was the yummy Mac and Cheese. The cheese was a little different, but good.  It tasted different, because it was actual cheddar cheese from Wisconsin.  The broccoli was okay, maybe not my favorite, but my mom and dad liked it.  I also had the chicken with  mashed potatoes and broccoli.  The chicken was fine.  It reminded me of shrimp.  The mashed potatoes were a little bit salty, but I loved them and ate them all up.  The vegetarian paella was quite yummy.  Paella is a rice dish from Spain with spices.  I give it a thumbs up”.  I also tried the goat cheese croqueta and roast dates with bacon from the adult menu.  I loved them.  The dates were sweet and made the bacon a bit sweet, too.  The kids meals came with a free fruit kabob.  It had grapes and apples and was very delicious.  The restaurant was beautiful.  The waiters were kind.  Café Ba Ba Reeba is spectacular and you should go there sometime.

While we were eating Sarah, the owner/chef came out and sat at our table for a little while and answered a few of my questions:

Q: How did you come up with the idea to offer healthy foods on the kids menu?

A:  Sarah was approached by another woman who wanted to make this happen, and Sarah jumped on board right away, as she was always interested in healthy eating.

Q:  How long did it take from when you came up with the idea, until it was implemented?

A:  It was about two months from when they first discussed the idea, until it was launched.  It all happened very quickly.

Q:  How are you promoting this great concept?

A:  The group created a logo, which will be on the placed on the restaurant windows.  The healthy food items will be highlighted by the logo on the menus.  There have been a few articles written about the concept, and Fooditude TV has also been a big help.  I think she said there about 15 participating restaurants at this time.

Q:  About what percentage of kids order one of the healthy options from the kids menu?

A:  Almost all of them!  The chicken cutlet is very popular.  On Fridays, they offer a make your own pizza entrée, and many kids order that, but they still serve it with a side of veggies to make it a little healthier.

This was a really great experience!  It was so nice that Sarah came out to answer my questions.  The healthy food options on the kids menu were really delicious… kids wouldn’t even have to know they were healthy for them… that’s how scrumptious they were!  We appreciate Sarah’s generosity in helping us explore new foods and expand my taste buds.

I can’t wait to go back again!

On Friday, December 23^rd, my mom and I visited a restaurant in Northbrook called Prairie Grass Café.  Our goal was to explore the healthy food choices recently added to the kids menu.  We also hoped to speak with the owner/chef to learn about the idea of offering healthy food options to the kids menus in restaurants around the Chicago area.

I had never been to Prairie Grass Café, and was excited to try a restaurant I had never been to before.  There were beautiful hardwood floors, and a stacked stone fireplace, which made the large room feel warm and comfy.

Our server Pearl was very nice, and explained that the owner/chef Sarah, wanted us to try all the healthy items on the kids menu.   She brought out the two healthy appetizer items to start to meal.  The first was Edemame, which is already one of my favorite foods.  She also brought out their Combo Platter, which included two types of cheese and two types of apples sliced up.  It also had carrots and celery, as well as caramelized grilled bananas.  The Combo platter was served in a fun dish, and all the foods were cut into slices and strips that were the perfect size for me.  I noticed they didn’t serve dipping sauces, which would have made it less healthy.  It was fun to eat and it all tasted good.

When we were finished with the appetizers, Pearl brought out one of each of the healthy entrees from the kids menu, so we could try each of them.  The first plate we ate featured a delicious piece of Tall Grass beef filet, which was served with a baked sweet potato and Brussel sprouts.  To begin with, the filet was amazing!  So tender and flavorful… I wanted to eat the whole thing, but knew I had to share it with my mom.  I had never eaten Brussel sprouts before, and was surprised to learn they tasted pretty good.  Chef Sarah did a great job making the foods taste kid-friendly.  I also tried the sweet potato and liked the sweetness of the flavor.

The next dish we tried was the whitefish.  It was a kids sized portion served with spaghetti squash and sautéed yellow and orange carrots.  This fish was light and flaky.  The carrots were tasty, and I like the sweetness of the yellow ones a lot.  I really enjoyed trying the many new foods.

The last healthy kids menu item we tried was the chicken cutlet, which was served Brussel sprouts and sautéed cauliflower.  I really liked the flavor of the chicken cutlet… it was better than any fried chicken fingers I’ve ever eaten, and so much healthier!  Yum!!!

...... stay tuned for my interview with Chef Sarah Stegner!

This month we're featuring our cast members trips to various restaurants most of whom are participating in the Healthy Fare for Kids Project in Chicago.  Since Lexie lives in Columbus, Ohio she decided to take a little trip of her own.  

On Christmas Eve we ate at Benihana Japanese Steakhouse.

The ‘table’ was really like a counter around a big stove.  The chef cooked right in front of us. He did lots of cool tricks such as flipping a knife and spatula around (he was never even close to dropping them), he rolled an egg across the cooking table and yelled, “look, an egg roll!”, he made an onion volcano, and he cut off the shrimp tails and flipped them into his pocket!  Some of the other chefs around us played music with their utensils and other cool stuff.

Our chef’s name was Charlie and he was Chinese, not Japanese.  He was very funny, when we could understand him!  He offered to bring the baby a Saki Sampler to drink (I’m not sure what Saki is, but I guess it’s not for babies!)

I tried almost everything and disliked only a few things. I liked the chicken and the beef, the Edamame beans, the sauces (for dipping into), the white rice, and the ice cream we had for dessert.  I was not as fond of the cucumber things or the shrimp (Mom and Dad say it’s OK if I don’t like shrimp…they don’t want to share it with me anyway…). 

For the holidays, I made a pumpkin bread recipe that I picked because I thought of a few ways to make it healthier. I changed it by using whole-wheat flour instead of regular flour.  I also used low-fat yogurt and raisins instead of 3 cups of sugar to sweeten the mixture. When I mixed the ingredients together, it was so very hard to turn the mixture, that it did not mix so well. So, I asked my dad to use the electric mixer. To me, it looked like the electric mixer was a little tired too. We baked the bread at 350 degrees for 40 minutes and had it the next day. It didn’t quite taste as good as it smelled. Some parts were bitter and was not sweet enough, but some parts were sweet that had lots of raisins. So, I may have not mixed the raisins into it well enough. Next time, I am going to especially make sure that I mix the ingredients better so that the raisins are mixed throughout the bread. Here are the ingredients that I used.

1 / 2 Cup Raisins
1 cup low-fat yogurt
3 Cups of whole-wheat flour
2 Teaspoons baking powder
1 Can Pumpkin
3 Tablespoons  Sugar
3 eggs
2 Teaspoons Cinnamon
2 Teaspoons ginger
1 / 2 Teaspoon salt
1 / 4 Cup Olive Oil

Recently, I went to all-you-can eat buffet restaurant. It has all sorts of foods and desserts. What I liked most was the desserts (obviously) and the vegetables. Their taste was unique to other foods there, but I also tried to find new things to taste. What I didn’t like was the macaroni salad. I didn’t grab much of it because I was only trying it out. There were also tomatoes in it and I have an allergic reaction to tomatoes sometimes. There were really so many awesome things there to try, but I tried my best not to over do it and explode.

As Thanksgiving comes up, there a lot of new foods to try out, and more importantly, it is a time to be very thankful and to not let yourself explode.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving 2011, by Lexie!

This year we are having the big Thanksgiving dinner at our house!  We have it a different place each year, sometimes at Grandma and Grandpa’s, sometimes at an aunt’s house or something.

We’ll make turkey and stuffing and all the things that everyone brings, and we’ll have salad and soup before dinner.  Mommy is making squash soup and another kind, too.

I’m going to make decorations for the playroom where all the kids will eat.  It sounds like some cousins who normally come will not be able to make it this year, so the kids’ table will only be my brother and sister and me.  At least I get to use my art talent to decorate!

I may also play my recorder for our guests, since that is another talent of mine.

The night before Thanksgiving everyone goes to a different house than the big dinner will be at to see cousins and friends and eat other kinds of yummy treats like Grandpa’s pimento cheese spread…if we can get him to share any!  It’s fun to see lots of relatives we don’t see much the rest of the year at Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

From Lexie

All the fooditude cast members were asked to tell us a little bit about Thanksgiving, what it means to them and of course touch on the food factor!

Here's what Ariana had to say:

What Thanksgiving means to me is giving and stuffing yourself with the greatest of foods and most importantly giving thanks for all we have. For Thanksgiving the feast is ether held at my family’s house or my Tia’s (aunt) house… it’s always a party wherever it’s held. When it’s time to eat you will always see my plate full and it’s not surprising any more to see me get seconds or thirds. On my plate there will be ham, turkey, stuffing, and pineapple. There are usually cranberries or cranberry sauce but I hate anything to do with cranberries even the juice. That is one food I will not eat on Thanksgiving or ever. My favorite food is the stuffing and the ham.  I know you think I’m crazy for not having the turkey as my favorite food, but it’s not like I don’t like the turkey it’s just not my favorite. But beware turkey I’m still eating you this year!

Stay tuned for more Turkey Day Blogs as we approach the big day!